Amalgamting process.



PATENTED MAR. 1a.', 1906.

E. A. THOMAS. AMALGAMATING Imoms. APIILIATION- FILED A-U. 22,*1904.

To all whom it may con/cent:v

No. 814,814. v

HERBERT Agi THOMAS, OF OHIOAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR To DRY AMAI;

GAMATION OO., TERRITORY.

lmoWnthatLHERBE'RT'A.THOMAa-,a citlzen of the United States, residing inChicago, in the county o f-Oook and State of Illino1s, have invented anew and useful Improvementin Amalgamating IProcesses, of

which the follo is a specification. vMy Invention re ates toimprovements in vthe art or process of dry amalgamation for -separationof precious metals from ores. The object vof my invention is to providea "I simple and eflicient'process orseparating precious metals frompulverized oreswhereby the pulverized ore lmay be brought directly incontact with the liquld mercury rapidly and cheaply and with uniformityand certainty t and the mercury itself keptin a fresh and bright statesuitable for perfect and complete amalgamation and whereby the mercurymay be prevented from adhering to orbeing carried away With thetailingsor non-metal-bearing particles o the pulverizedorepassing through theliquid'mercury. l

. My invention consists' in'themeans I have discovered and devised forpractically accomplishing this important object or. resultthat is tosay, my invention or discovery is based in part upon the lpracticalutilization of the property Of'liquid mercury t o forma depression orcrease at the wall or sides of a vessel containing it or at the surfaceof any object or body that is not Wet by itwhich may beinserted orimmersed into the body of liq- -uid mercuryand in part upon the.practical utilization of the apparent roperty of a body of liquidmercury wh@ c, arged With static electricity to'prevent particles ofliquid metallic mercury from being carried vaWayWith particles ofpulverized ore passing through or In contact With the liquid mercury,sothat .when particles of'pulverized oreare carried "through and out ofthemass of Aliquid mercury the eleetrostatically-charged mercury,

by reason of this property, will separate itself perfectly and entire yfrom the particles of ings entirely free Yfromnrercury, while theprecious metal contained 1n the ore 1s com- 5'o pletel, amalgamated andrecovered lasthe partie es of ore pass down into, through, and

pulverized ore tall- OF'OHIOAGOJLLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ARIZONAAMALGAMATING. Pnocezss.

i t Ilatent'ed March( 13, 1966.

process or invention practically utilizing these two properties or.princip es may-be practiced by any suitable apparatus, imple- ,keepingitcharged with static electricity, and a moving device moved by hand orotherwise and adapted to be immersedor partiall v .t "IINITED STATESPATENT OFFICE Y, out of the body of liquid mercury;

immersed in themcrcury and conve the pu verized ore in a thin layer orsheet o uniform thickness on its surface down, into, through,

, and out of the mass or body of liquid mercury, the. pulverized Oreautomatically'feeding and forming itself into'a thin layer or sheet onthe surface of such device -as it moves down, through, into, and out ofthe liquid. mercury by reason of the crease or de ression` natu- -rallyforming at .the surface o the mercury and moving device and the layer orsheet of pulverized ore bein pressed and held-on thev surface Of'themoving device by the hydrostatic pressure of the liquid'mercu-ry itselfagainst it, While the mercury at the same.

time permeates through the layer or sheet of with all the'particles 'ofthe ore and the mer- Ipulverized ore and comes in direct contactv cury'completely and perfectly separating itself from the particles of ore ortailings asthethin sheet or layer of the same passesup out of themercuby reason of this property of electrostatical y-charged mercury toprevent particlesof mercury from being carried away with particles oi'.ore assin'g through 'or in Contact With.'it. -My lnventlonlthuspractically utilizes these two natural laws or propertics `ofelectrostatically-charged-liquid mercury, and thus affords'a practicaland" successful rocess of dryajmalgamation by means of Whic the preciousmetalscontainedinore I may bel very perfectly, rapid-ly, andchea lyamalgamated'and recovered, andwithout oss lor Waste of mercury, v Whilemy process maybe practicedprf' carried out by' any suitable apparatusorimplements of the sim lest character, I have in the rawings, forming apart of tus w 'ch I havespecially devised and prefer to use inpracticing my process and which I herein show to enable my invention tobe more readily understood and to be easily practiced by those skilledin the art in the manner best known to me.

In said drawings, Figure l is a side elevaf tion, and Fig. 2 a partialfront view, of the ap'- paratus which I prefer to use in practicing myinvention or process. Fig. 3 1s a detail vertical section on line 3 3vof Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged partial vertical section.

In the drawings, A represents the frame; B, a hopper for containing thepulverized ore; C, a feed slide or valve in the ore-box or hopper havinga series of holes c, so that by opening and closing the slide the feedof the ore may be regulated as desired or shut off when required.

D is afeed-chute, having, preferably, a glass plate d for the ulverizedore to flow down.

F is an insu ated liquid-mercurycontain ing vessel, the same beingreferably of Wood, and thus substantially se f-insulating. The

1 interior of this mercury vessel or receptacle is preferablysubstantially semicylindrical and somewhat larger in diameter than themoving device or` surface G, which is preferably a cylindrical roller,by which and on the surface of which the ore automatically forms in athin layer or sheet and is carried or conveyed down into, through, andout of the liquid mercury E in the vessel F. The ore-convey- -ing deviceor roller G is preferably of wood and about eight inches in diameter andof any length desired, according to thecap'acity required in themachine. Ordinarily I make the roller G from three to six feet inlength. The roller G is furnished at each end with hard-rubber disks g,which slightly exceed in diameter the diameter of the roller G for thepur ose of more effectually insulating the sha t G of the roller fromthe mercury and providing ore-retaining flanges at the ends of theroller G. y f *i H is a static electric machine having the customarystationary glass disk h, rotating glass disk t, brushes h2 and metalcollectin points h3, shaft h, and driving-pulley h5. conductor-wire h6lea ds from one of the poles 'k7 of the static electric machine to themass of liquid mercury E in the mercury-containing vessel F.

The roller or moving device G has a driving-pulley g .on its shaft G','and the same is continuously rotated by a belt K from the electric orother motor K A belt K2 from the motor also drives the static electricmachine H., l

The mercury-containing vessel F has a longitudinal groove or channel yat its bottom and discharge-tube j" and g ss cock f2 for being carriedaway wit ized' ore passin through or in contact with drawing'off themercury vfrom the vessel F when desired.

As the ore feeds down the chuteD it fills the longitudinal groove,crease, or depression e, which the liquid mercury E by its natural lawforms at its upper surface at the meeting surface or periphery of theroller G, and as the roller G revolves the pulverized ore X thus forms athin sheet or layer a; on the surface of the roller G of uniformthickness, which sheet or layer of ore is conveyed down into, through,and up out of the mass of liquid mercury E by the roller G as the r ller'relvolves in the mercury, the thin layer gr sheet of ore being ressedand held against the surface of the ro ler by the hydrostatic pressureof the liquid mercury itself. As the thin and continuous sheet or layerof pulverized ore thus passes or is conveyed down into, through and upout of the liquid mercury the mercur has opportunity to come in contactwit every metal-bearing particle of ore, and thus to perfectlyamalgamate and recover the precious metal therefrom, and as the thincontinuous sheet or layer of pulverized ore passes nlp out of the liquidand electrostaticallyc arged mercury the particles of mercuryautomatically se arate and free themselves perfectly from t e sand ortailings by reason of the property of electrostatically charged liquidmercury, which revents its particles fiparticles of pulverit, and as thet in continuous sheet or layer of pulverized ore-passes up out of themerlcury and free from mercury particles such layer of ore or tailingsfalls off the surface of the roller G and is discharged over theinclined lip f 2 of the mercury-containin vessel F and is thusdischarged from the mac `ne.

I disclaim as not of my invention the method and apparatus set forth inthe A. B. Kittson patentfNo. 497 ,659 of May 16,1893.

I claimi 1.' The dry amalgamatin process herein described consisting ininsuIatinga body of vliquid mercury, charging it electrostatically,

and feeding through it a thin sheet of pulverized ore, whereby theprecious metals are amalgamated or removed from the ore and the mercurycompletely freed and'separated from the tailings, substantially asspecified.

2. The dry amalgamating process hereiny described consisting in feedingthe pulverized ore in a thin', continuous sheet or layer through a .bodyof insulated and electrostatically-charged liquid mercury, substantiallyas specified.

3. The dry amalgamating process herein described consisting 1nelectrostatically charging an insulated body of liquid mercury and IOOIIO

I'eeomg the pulverized ore in a thin, continusheet or layer through saidbody of electroro ous sheet or layer through theelectrostaticstatically-charged liquid mercury and'mainally-chargedliquid,mercury and maintaining taining said mercury inan eleotrostaticallysaid mercury in an electrostatically-charged chargedcondition as the pulverized ore 1s concondition, substantially asspecified. veyed through it, substantial] as specified.

4. The dry amalgamating process herein HERBERT .THOMASdescribedconsisting1nelectrostaticallycharg- Witnesses: ing abodyofinsulated liquidmercury, feeding H. M. MUNDAY, l r f and conveyin thepulverzed ore in a thin i EDW. S'. E'VABTS. v

